User blog:TrumpetofTheSwan/The plot thickens: how the Gallifrey plot has been subtly built through series 8
It's an arc which I would argue has spanned and been developing from the moment the 12th Doctor regenerated, and perhaps even pulls together a few threads before that, if certain details pan out. And It's nearly finished, it would seem. The Doctor has finally reached Gallifrey, and in an ironic twist, he seems to have come full circle; two seasons after saving Gallifrey from his own hand, he is has outrunned a predestined event which, despite how much he tries to circumvent and forestall it, will always happen in the end. He is the hybrid who will stand on the ashes of Gallifrey, one way or another. But how did we come to this point, exactly who is behind it all, and just how deep does the manipulation of events run? Let's start with what we know: The Timelords granted the Doctor a new regeneration cycle. They presumably picked out his face, which was that of a certain pommpeian whose life the Doctor had spared against fate. This has a big role in a later regrettable decision by the Doctor, one which we will get to in due time; It indirectly led to Clara's death. The Master somehow returned as Missy. He had been sent to die in the Time War, but that was reversed when the Doctor saved Gallifrey. We don't know what happened after that, or how Missy made her way back to Earth. However, it is likely that she had some sort of contact with the other Timelords. Missy orchestrated the Doctor's initial reunion with Clara, and had planned for her to travel with the Doctor; her reason for this was that there was something about Clara's personality which made her into the perfect tool to manipulate the Doctor emotionally. We never really get a satisfying explanation for why this was needed, or what he was being manipulated for; the Doctor has been duped plenty of times before by cybermen and the Master without having Clara in the mix. There must be a bigger reason for it that we just can't see yet. Ashildre is revived by the Doctor, despite her being destined to die. The Doctor's decision to do this is made when he realizes where his face, which he decides the Timelords gave him as a message, is from; a dead man who lived because the Doctor broke the rules. In a speach which positively smacked of Timelord Victorious, the Doctor cursed at high Gallifrey and it's rules, and defied them both by artifically reviving Ash with technology which made her immortal On to the next thread on the loom, Ashilde mentions in her second meeting with him that she always makes a point to note someones weaknesses, which in the Doctor's case, she says, is Clara. Flashforward, Clara and the Doctor are lured to Ash's alley, where certain parts of Clara's personality compel her to do something that most companions wouldn't do, put herself directly in the line of fire. Her luck runs out, and she dies. The Doctor is left angry, vengeful, and off-balance. He is then teleported into a certain confession dial, which Ash now has, and which was formerly given to Missy by the Timelords. Perhaps all of this was a result of a deal made by the Timelords with Missy to orchestrate events culminating in Clara's death, in order to get the Doctor as broken as possible before his "interrogation". Thus, in a complex cascade of clever manipulations: the timelords employed Missy, who set up events by instating Clara; Missy employed Ashilde, whom the Timelords had already set the Doctor up to make immortal, the consequences of which left her in an easily manipulated and callous state; Ash was then coerced by the Timelords into playing along with their plans and ultimately delivering a broken Doctor into their confession dial, whom is then teleported to Gallifrey. It seems obvious that they wanted more out of the Doctor than merely agnowledgement that he knew who the Hybrid was. Otherwise they would have stopped right there. It seems likely at this point that they were hoping that he would name himself as the hybrid. It seems like a truth that has been staring at us in plain sight all along. Whatever they expected, things appearently did not go as entirely as they planned, because instead of making a full confession and divulging the identity of the hybrid, he did what he always does: the impossible, in typical Doctor fashion. Hence, once again, the Timelords have overplayed their hand. Now they must face the fury of a being who has already destroyed them once, before changing his mind, and may now change his mind once again. Only this time, perhaps, without guilt. We can only be left to wonder, what about all those children? I know the Doctor will always choose what is right. Category:Blog posts Category:Blog posts